Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos met with the director of Sparkassenstiftung fuer der Internationalen Kooperation, Niklaas Bergmann and the president of Deutscher Sparkassen und Giroverband, Georg Farenson.

Bergmann and Farenson presented key points of the successful operation model of Germany’s savings and cooperative banks and their significance as another pylon of economic growth. They also spoke about supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Tsakalotos stressed the government’s priority to support local economies and SMEs and noted that the operation and support of cooperative and decentralized saving banks was important for economic stability and growth in Greece. Tsakalotos noted that draining experience from successful models would be extremely useful for the operation and similar institutions in Greece.

The two sides agreed to continue cooperation, based on the common view that Eurozone and the EU do not need only a single capital market area, but small banks as well, suitable to support small- and medium-sized enterprises and the needs of real economy.